[Seahawk]

There has been a bunch of these threads in the past year and I wish Fred well.

The key is there is no right answer.

Assets aside, because I assume if you desire to retire early you have the means to accomplish that while taking care of your family and finances, I have seen the gamut of retirees that flounder and those that flourish.

I could have completely pulled the plug when I retired as an O-6 over 12 years ago: Wife has a great job, no debt, plenty of savings, etc. I was 53.

I just didn't want to retire/retire. Some insight:

I did a tour at the Bureau of Naval Personnel as a detailer and the job is basically nothing but listening to (I was the Aerospace Engineering Duty Offer -AEDO's - detailer) really smart men and women confess their hopes and dreams and, as important, their career desires. These were all prior fleet pilots and NFO's who had to compete to become an AEDO.

I was Frasier Crane in a uniform: "I'm listening".

AEDO's are roughly divided by management and flight test types and engineers. What I learned was that the engineers were much better prepared for the end of their career and "retirement" than the management and flight test guys and gals.

I'd tell an engineer working a program at China Lake, an O-5, that they would need to come back to the Mother Ship at Pax River and work in a program office to make O-6.

I heard this all the time: "I want to stay in China Lake and I get the risk to my career...I love the work and plan on retiring to XXX with my family. We are ready."

Pretty neat.

The rest just wanted more, the next thing, the next challenge, the next rank.

Also pretty neat.

I will tell you that engineers pull the plug much better; some continued to work, others are like some folks here that do extremely well in retirement without outside work.

I have rarely met, and I have done a lot of post retirement counseling because I had a great rep as a detailer, a management or flight test type that doesn't go back to work at something within 6 months.

Fred, a trial run is the only answer in most cases. Don't shutter your business for more than a month to see if you are content. Family as well.

Best.